The sudden closure of the Lotus Hotel earlier this year left legions of fans foraging for new alternative nightspots, but the loss of the hotels three nightclubs has left a hole in one community in particular.
The Lick Club, which along with Honey Lounge and the Lotus Sound Lounge, closed with little warning on March 26 after the hotel was abruptly sold, was Vancouvers only lesbian bar. Many events formerly held at the Abbott Street club have found homes in mixed-gender venues, but some in Vancouvers queer female community are still mourning the loss of a space predominantly for women.
Vancouvers not the same without a deliberately female space, says Paige Frewer, a former bartender at Lick, which had been a fixture in the queer female community for nearly a decade. It was there that Frewer, 25, started the monthly drag king cabaret Man Up, which has since moved to new digs at the Cobalt. Even before the club closed, however, Frewer says the tiny venue had perhaps passed its prime with attendance dwindling for months before the closure was announced.
Even Man Up, for a year really struggled, it was like pulling teeth trying to get people down to the bar. People were kind of over Lick, she says.
But the club still functioned as a headquarters of sorts for a certain sector of the lesbian community one that many assumed would always be there.
Even knowing that Lick isnt there anymore, it hurts us, she says. Even people who had since stopped going to Lick, or werent going on a very regular basis, are still impacted by it. That affects our self-esteem in a queer context.
While Frewer says shes completely comfortable hosting Man Up in gender-balanced venues and in fact relocating seemed to breathe new life into the event not everyone is comfortable partying in that environment.
There is a very real need for a women-focused space, she says.
Youth worker Blaine Martin, 28, agrees. Martin moved from Ottawa last year, another city she notes lacks a lesbian bar, and was excited to be in a city that did.
However, rumours of Licks passé status kept her away from the club. Instead, she found a community online and through monthly Fly Girl parties held at Canvass Lounge. But compared to the packed gay dance parties at several bars each weekend, Vancouvers dyke community seems to be getting short shrift, she says.
I think historically in the gay pride movement women have always been on the back burner, so its kind of a symptom of that. Also, dyke culture is different from gay man culture, its not as much about appearance and sex or thats the stereotype anyway. But I think its super-important to have a space where you can meet other women and date other women and be comfortable.
Some gay venues have stepped up to the plate to fill the void. Oasis Ultra Lounge on Davie Street recently re-branded its Saturday nights as Peaches playing specifically to queer women with DJs Kasha Kennedy and Lisa De Lux and a newly minted 3am liquor licence. Manager Yannick Desautles says the club has been playing with a ladies night for about nine months now, but noticed about a 20 per cent jump in female attendance since Lick closed. Like Desautles, Cobalt manager Ezra Kish is more than happy to host womens events at his venue, noting Man Up has been a huge success for the club, drawing 300 women on its first turn there.
Though Kish didnt set out to turn the former heavy-metal enclave into a queer club, its become a de facto gay bar between Man Up, a weekly drag night dubbed Apocalypstick and the monthly gay dance party Queer Bash. But Kish says he just wants the venue to be a place where everyone feels comfortable coming out to party. The time for specifically branded gay and lesbian bars may be coming to a close, he says, at least in East Van.
I think the need for it to be branded as such is getting less and less, at least on this side of town... Nobody really cares. Its not like oh are they gay or are they not gay. Even for a drag night its probably a 60/40 gay/straight. A lot of couples come out and its just cause its a good party.
As for Frewer, while shes happy to welcome everybody to Man Up at the Cobalt, shes hopeful the loss of Lick will ultimately be a positive thing for the dyke community.
Call me the eternal optimist, but I really hope that what this means or could mean is that we just have to get organized and creative and come up with events and spaces that are fun and engaging and welcoming and bring people together and celebrate our community.
